Lieutenant
Teignmouth Melvill was born at 4 Clarendon Place, Marylebone,
Central London on 8 September 1842. He died aged 36 when trying
to save the Colour from Isandlwana on 22 January 1879.

He, along with
Coghill, were among the first recipients of the posthumous Victoria Cross
in 1907.

Lieutenant
Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill was
born Drumcondra, Co. Dublin, Ireland on 25 January 1852. He died
with Melvill trying to save the Colour.

When the situation
at Isandlwana seemed hopeless, Lieutenant-Colonel Pulleine ordered
Melvill to save the Colour. He was accompanied
by Coghill, he having sustained an injury to his knee earlier in
the day when trying to catch a chicken for Lord Chelmsford's supper.
It was this injury which meant that he was unable to go with Chelmsford's
force moving to the South East in search of the main Zulu force.

Lt. Melvill

Lt. Coghill

Melvill and
Coghill made their way through the battle and through to the Buffalo
River. Coghill was first to arrive and managed to cross to the Natal
side. He turned to see Melvill plunge into the water, with the Colour
in its case, only to have his horse shot from under him. He was
swept to a large boulder, Coffin Rock,
showing out of the torrent. He was soon joined by an NNC officer
named Higginson. Melvill asked for help to save the colours but
it was torn from his grasp by the strong current and disappeared.

Coghill turned
to help the two in the river, but then his horse was shot in the
head, plunging him into the water. He struggled to the rock and
all three men then managed to swim to the Natal side of the bank.
Higginson went to look for horses, while Melvill and Coghill struggled
up the steep sides of the valley. They were killed by supposedly
friendly natives who had been threatened by the Zulus on the opposite
bank with death, had they not chased Melvill and Coghill and killed
them.

They were buried
on 4 February 1879 where they died. They were reburied in an isolated
grave on 14 April, the site being marked by a memorial. There are
also two cairns just below this, presumably where other fugitives
died and were buried. The site has been known since then as "Fugitive's
Drift".

The Colour
was found some weeks later by a patrol who saw the pole sticking
out of the water. Most of the gold braiding had perished. The restored
Colour now hangs in Brecon Cathedral.

The crossing
on the Buffalo, known as 'Fugitive's Drift'.

The memorial
to Lt's Melvill and Coghill

One
other VC winner on the 22nd. of January was a Private Samuel Wassall
from Birmingham. He rescued a comrade who was drowning in the Buffalo
River during the retreat from Isandlwana. He went on to live until
he was 70. He is buried in The Barrow-in-Furness cemetery, section
3.B. plot 1952. There was another VC winner who died at Isandlwana.
He was Private William Griffiths, born in Ireland. He won his VC in
1867 at Little Andaman Island. His grave is unmarked on the battlefield
at Isandlwana.